Some time ago I assisted a guy that had what I thought were called a midnite bee stain and I thought they were carnolians. It seemed to me that they love to use propolis profusely. To the point that it appeared that they got alot of propolizing done and did only a fair job of producing honey.

I know here in Maine theyre quite popular. I guess, from what I understand they get going quite early in the year, and are better with cold weather than most. I thought that would be the breed Id go with for sure!! I dont really requeen like I should, and was told they can get kind of nasty when they mate with Italians, which they eventually will, if left alone. So as a beginner I chose the Italians, and have had decent luck as a second year/still dont know quite what Im doing bee fellah. Most around here go with carniolans though.

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Anonymous

I've been thinking of trying the NWC queens as well. Lots of talk about fast buildup has my interest peaked. Also alot of talk about swarm tendency with them. With early fast buildup, it follows. Been looking for a place to put a dozen or so hives next year, and I may have found it about 15 minutes from home.

I'm trying out the Carniolans. I purchased two nucs and can say after two days with them that these are very gentle and calm. Very tame, a club member here in GA did a extraction demo recently. No one needed a veil durning the whole thing. They were producing very well, had 5 shallows on a two deep brood box. Normally Jerry uses one brooder, he had trouble finding queens if I heard right. I think he used an Italian queen in at least one of the hives. Now I have two Carniolan colonies in my back yard, very nice ladies so far.

Here is a photo of the Cherokee Beekeepers Club meeting in GA, they just pulled off the honey and are looking at the top brood box.

Bupalos

I don't think putting a queen of one strain in with bees of another makes a hybrid. That queen was (presumably) already mated, so it doesn't matter now what hive she goes in, the genetics are already set.

My NWC hives are all doing well. I requeened 6 splits from an Italian hive. At least 4 and maybe 5 of the new queens were accepted. One hive had a virgin queen and rejected the NWC. They built up fast and collected honey in a few weeks. They are much easier to work than the Italian hives were.

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www.myoldtools.comThose who don't read good books have no advantage over those who can't---Mark Twain

Do you mean easier to work overall (propolis, burr, etc.) or just easier on the gentleness side of things? I requeened a queenless hive with an NWC about a week ago. There was a temporary attitude improvement for a few days, but they are starting to mope again.

How are NWC's at drawing wax for you? I was thinking of running a top bar hive next year, but I don't know if they would be good for initially drawing it out.

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â€œAnd as when Plato did iâ€™ the cradle thrive, Bees to his lips brought honey from their hive.â€

They do seem to glue things up a little more than the Italians. They seem to draw wax just fine. I use foundationless or 1/2" starter strips, and as long as the flow is on, they draw it fine. Like most bees, they seem to need some direction to get started right, either a drawn frame for starter strips. They are very gentle.

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www.myoldtools.comThose who don't read good books have no advantage over those who can't---Mark Twain

I requeened a queenless hive with an NWC about a week ago. There was a temporary attitude improvement for a few days, but they are starting to mope again.

You won't see the true effect of requeening unitl all the older bees (offsprings of the previous queen) die off and are replaced by offsprings of your new queen. Hopefully you will see a gradual improvement as the cycle progresses.

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